Signal light and license-plate holder for automobiles



i. A. AGAN. U UCtNSE PURE HOLDER FOR AUTO MOBILES.

SEGNM, UCHT AN FVvPLiCA'HON FILFYI IH V l? 1920.

Patmted Mar. 7. 19?? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH A. FAGAN. 0F AUGUSTA. KENTUCKY.

SIGNAL LIGHT AND LICENSE'PLATE HOLDER FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed July 12.

To r1]? rr/mm 1'! may HUNT/H.

lie it known that l, .losnrn l*.-u:.\.\'. a eitizen of the lnited tates of .\meriea. and resident of .\ugusta. in the eounty of liraeken and State of lientueky, have invented new and useful lm n'ovements in Signal Lights and liireuselate llolders l'or Autonwhiles of whirh the following is a speeifieation.

This invention relates to signal lights and lieeuse plate lrolders For automohiles. the said invention having for its ohjert the provision of a hraeket whieh may he attached to lirense plate holders surh as are usually supplied as equipments with automohiles. and novel lamp and light or ilhnninate-d eompartments for displaying the light from an eleetrie lamp through a lens and through perforations or openings in the lieense plate. the. said openings having the outline of numbers, letters or other indieia employed a designating the identity of the automohile. earrying the lirense plate.

A still further ohjert of this invention is to produee a housing \vhieh inrludes the lamp ehaulher and the light ehaniher having novel means \vherehy the lie-ensiplate ran he readily applied to or removed from the. housing or easing so that one equipment may he employed in eonneetion with sueeessive lieense plates as they are supplied periodieally.

With the foregoing and other ohjeets in view, the invention ronsists in the details of eonstruetiom and in the arrangement and combination of parts to he hereinafter more fully set forth and elaimed.

Tn deserihing the invention in detail. ret erenee will he had to the aeeompanying drawings Forming part of this speril'ieation "wherein like eharaeters denote eorrespondiug parts in the several views. and in whieh Figure 1 illustrates a view in elevation of a eomhinerl lamp and lirense hrae-ket emhodying the invention:

Figure 2 illustrates an end elevation there of:

Figure 3 illustrates a vertieal central tional view thereof;

l 'igure 4 illustrates a perspeetive view of a hraeket and frame. and

Figure 5 illustrates a perspective view of the li -ense plate clamping serews.

in these drawings 10 denotes a liar having slots 11 therein to reeeive fastenings such Specification of Letters Patent.

ateuted Mar. 7. 1922.

1920v Serial No. 395,614.

as holts l2 h v \vhirh the deviee may he seeured to the usual lieense hrarkets of autoniohiles. the said har having approximately Cshaped end hrarkets l3. the upper arm 1% l' \vhieh has apertures 15. and the lower arm [1 ol' \\'lllrl| has an aperture I? intended for the rereption of l'astenings 1 surh as rivets.

The lamp and light hou ing has a rear wall Hi whieh is slightly inelined and termi nates at the top in a hood 2t) forming the upper wall of the lam rhainher. 'lhere is a hottom plate if having apertures 2; for drainage purposes. the said hottom terminating in a ehannel 23 and an upwardly disposed flange .24 forming a seat for the lieense plate 25. The hood hasa t'aee plate '26 with an aperture 27 therein t-ol'istituting an open- 7 ing for the lens :28 whieh may he of any appropriate eolor. hut pret'erahlv red for the rear of the antomohile and white for the front thereof. The hood has a headed flange as at .J whieh is intended to hold the s(('lllin; ring ZN) h v whieh the lens is held in plaee. it heing shown in the drawing that the rear snrtaee ol' the lens at the edge rests against a head Ill on the inner wall of the side of the hood where the lens opening is formed.

The lower edge of the tat-e plate has an outwanlly extending flange 31? and a downwardl extending flange 3?! to engage the lirense plate. The outwardly extending flange 32 has an aperture 34 near HH'll end. and the hottom 21 has an aperture 35 at earh enihheing in alinemeut and serving to reeeive the shank 36 'ot' the elamp 3T Wlllt'l] rlamp has a head to emhraee the upper edge of the lieense plate so that when the nut 38 whirh is threaded on the lower end of the shank is operated. the rlamping head is eaused to exert pressure on the lieense plate to hold it in its seat. although it ean he readily removed hy the loosening of the nuts 38.

It has heen found that a device made in aeeordanee with this invention has advantages in that it is strong and dnrahle. and the fasteirings 18 which elamp the C-shaped hraekets to the ends of the housing rigidly hold the parts and produees a lirense plate displaying element or member having advantages ovei those now in eommon use. (if eourse the housing may he supplied with any type of lamp soeketas at 39, the lamp 411 heing of the usual type employed in automo hile illumination. As one skilled in the art will understand thapplication of the lamp socket and the lamp, a conventional showing of the drawin is believed to be sutiicient as a disclosure 0 this feature.

If desired, the surface of the face late at the bottom may have the name am address of the owner indicated thereon as a permanent sign.

The face plate has direction indicators such as arrows A cut from the faceplate which are intended to be illuminated. One arrow points in one direction and one in the other and either can be illuminated at the pleasure of the operator by suitable switch and circuit controlling elements which are of well known construction and arrangement and need not. it is thou ht, be shown diagrammatically. One skil ed in the art would readily understand how it would be possible to provide switches for controlling the circuit to eitherof the lamps B or C so that either one could be provided with current for illumination, and of course the driver would furnish the current to the one indicating the direction in which he is to turn. The face plate has the housings D and E back of the indicators A in which the lam s B and C are placed respectively so that lig t from either of the lamps will be confined and directed by reason of the inclined walls F, one of which is arranged in each of the enclosures D and E so that light will be directed through the indicators.

As a means for mounting the lamps B and C, the main housing has a tubular extension G backpf each of the housings D and E, and each tubular extension is of such a size as to permit-the small electric lamp to be inserted in it with its lamp socket H, the said lam socket being secured in place by a nut which is threaded in the tubular extension so that by turning the nut back to disengage the tubular extension, the lamp socket and the lamp may be removed.

I claim:

In a combined lamp and license plate holder, a casing comprising a rear wall terminating in a hood at the top, an apertured bottom, the said casing having a face plate with an aperture therein for a lens, means for securing the lens in the aperture, a flange extending outwardly from the lower edge of the face plate and terminating in a.

downwardly extending flange forming a seat, the said bottom having a channel and an upwardly extending flange at its outer edge. a license plate interposed between the bottom and the flange of the face plate, license plate clamps comprising threaded shanks with heads having recesses, the said shanks being insertable in apertures. of the flange of the face plate and the bottom of the casing, the recessed heads of said clamping members embracing the edge of the license plate, and members threaded on the said shanks for drawing the head of the clamp into engagement with the said license plate.

JOSEPH A. FAGAN. 

